Asserting that the government is ready to take criticism for its anti-Naxal offensive, Home Secretary G K Pillai on Tuesday said those who advocate the cause of Maoists should have the courage to call a spade a spade and also condemn the murder of innocents by the extremists.
“Government is ready to take criticism. Government is responsible, Government is accountable. But the Maoists are not accountable to anybody,” he told a seminar here.
The Home Secretary said there were people and NGOs who often criticise the government for its acts against Maoists but hardly utter any word when the ultras indulge in violence.
“We must be willing to call a spade a spade. If Maoists are murderers, please call the Maoists murderers,” he said.
Pillai said Maoists have murdered 159 innocent civilians between June and December 2009 in West Midnapore district in West Bengal.
“But I didn’t see any criticism of that. Had the government killed 159 people, lots of people would have called it a genocide. Why don’t they call it a genocide by Maoists.
800 people were killed by Maoists last year and many of them were innocent,” he said.
The Home Secretary said it was important to understand that the government’s primary duty was to provide security to common people but unfortunately many people have forgotten that aspect.
“A teacher has been kidnapped in Chhattisgarh recently. I have not seen any NGO coming out and criticising the Maoists. Is that allowed, is that permitted ? Are you scared?
May be many of you are scared. You don’t want to speak against CPI (Maoist) because if you speak, you will not be able to go to Chhattisgarh again.”
Referring to demands by some NGOs to provide more water to Pakistan under the Indus Water Treaty, Pillai said 200 inspections have been done jointly by India and Pakistan on the river waters after the pact was signed.
“There was not a single objection from Pakistan during those inspections. So, from where suddenly the water terrorism coming from. The fact is that they got more water than what they are entitled to,” he said.
Jailed legislator ready to mediate with Maoists
Jailed Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) legislator and former Maoist Polush Surin Tuesday said he was ready to mediate between the government and Maoist guerrillas.
Speaking to IANS on the phone from a jail near here, Surin said: “We have the experience of being Maoists and now we have associated ourselves with the democratic system. We understand the concerns of both sides. We could mediate between the Maoists and the government.”
Surin, in jail for two years, faces over a dozen criminal cases. He was the area commander of the Maoist People’s Liberation Front of India and was the only former Maoist to win state assembly elections in Jharkhand.
The outlawed Communist Party of India-Maoist has called for negotiations with the government, which says the rebels first need to give up violence.
Meanwhile, a schoolteacher abducted by Maoists was handed over unharmed to mediapersons in the Mohulboni forest of West Bengal and went back home saying he would continue to teach, police said Tuesday.
He was released Monday night, three days after his abduction in West Midnapore district. “Ranjit Dule was handed over to journalists who escorted him out of the forest,” Inspector General of Police (Western range) Zulfiqar Husan told IANS.
“They (journalists) handed him over to Lalgarh police station. We have sent Dule to his Sarenga residence in Bankura. He is fine now.”
Dule said after being released by the Maoists: “I never hurt anybody in my life. I always tried to impart education to all children living in the villages of Sarenga. I will continue to do that. I am really grateful to all who helped me come back home.”
Dule, a former Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) supporter, was abducted Friday by a group of suspected Maoists in Bankura district’s Sarenga village, 160 km west of here.
He was picked up by members of the Sidhu-Kanhu Gana Militia - the armed wing of the Maoist-backed People’s Committee Against Police Atrocities (PCAPA) - from Shibram Satpathy School in Bankura town.
Earlier, family members of the abducted schoolteacher had condemned the security forces’ drive in the forest-covered region. They also appealed to the Maoists to set Dule free.